Important Astrological Alignments: Mutual Exchange (“Parivartana”)

“Mutual Exchange” is a very powerful, influential and important astrological condition which deserves to be discussed with clarity. In Sanskrit, the language of “Vedic” astrology, this condition is called parivartana. The word literally means “circular motion” and is used to indicate situations in which things revolve around one another, come and go and thus exchange in a mutual way.

What It Is

In the illustration here you can see the circular motion in a chart caused by a mutual exchange. This chart actually has two mutual exchanges, but let’s just focus on one for the purpose of this article.  Find Taurus (_), it is the 4^th House of this horoscope. Venus owns Taurus so find Venus (the pink planet, the “female” symbol), and notice that she occupies Capricorn (g), which is the 12^th House of the horoscope. Now, realizing that Saturn owns Capricorn – look for him. He is the blue symbol that looks sort of like a scythe. You will find him in Taurus.

The scribbles (drawn with a mouse so please forgive the 1^st grade appearance!) trace the path of what you just did and reveal how it is a circular motion where energy goes from one house to another and then comes back again. It is a “mutual exchange” of energies. So this chart has a parivartana (“Mutual Exchange”) involving the 4^th and 12^th houses.

Now you know what a parivartana yoga or “Mutual Exchange” is. The next question is, what does it mean?

What It Does

Well, I have already given the foundation of the answer to that in noting that the energy of one house mutually exchanges with the energy of another house. Put in another, perhaps more simple way: parivartana causes two houses to form strong mutual links.

If you link two reservoirs – water will start flowing back and forth between them. This is exactly what parivartana does. It links two houses and thus causes their “water” (their significations and nature) to exchange and intermingle.

I have heard some astrologers elaborate that parivartana causes the significations of one of the houses to change into the significations of the other. I think this may work in some of the cases, because when there is a link between two places, the two places change to become more like each other. But that is just it! Both the places blend their energies and both become more like the other. I am not in favor of the opinion that parivartana causes a unidirectional flow of change from one house to the other, rather it causes a bi-directional exchange or circulation of their energies. After all, “circulation” is a very good literal translation of parivartana. And the english term “mutual exchange” supports this bi-directional understanding of the phenomena.

Types

The most classical and fundamental way of differentiating various types of parivartana follows a very simple formula:

1. Links between houses of common themes and natures have generally positive effects
2. Links between houses of uncomplimentary themes have generally negative effects.

So, in our example of a parivartana exchanging the 4^th and 12^th houses, this formula would call it a “negative” type of exchange (dainya-parivartana). The 4th house is basically a positive place and the 12th house is basically a negative place – so their combination evaluates to be negative (dainya).

The classic Sanskrit scriptures on astrology are uniformly exaggerative and oversimplified because that allows the nuances and nature of things to be described more clearly. A real astrologer, however, cannot be as simplistic. The fact of the matter is that every house has multiple significations. The significations which have common grounds in both the houses involved in the parivartana will be enhanced while the significations that are not in common will cause issues to arise.

Practical Example

Here we have the 4^th House exchanging and intermixing with the 12^th House. We begin to understand how this yoga works by letting our non-linear mind make associations between the common and non-common characteristics of the two houses.

For example, springing to my mind initially is that the 4^th House signifies ones kin and close relationships, whereas the 12^th House signifies unknown persons who are outsiders and foreigners. The yoga (“Mutual Exchange”) causes these two to blend – and the results could very likely be unfortunate (dainya), especially if supported by other indications elsewhere in the horoscope.

Something else my inner mind shows me is that the 4^th House pertains to the deep emotions, while the 12^th House pertains to withdrawing to the interior things and hidden places. Thus the yoga causes emotions to become very deep and withdrawn, hidden within oneself cautiously. This could be an unfortunate situation, but could be a positive indication if the chart is supportive of spirituality – because it would incline one to be very philosophical in the search for their true inner self, negating the illusions of their outer self.

Another thing is that the 4^th is about treasures deposited safely, while the 12^th is about incurring losses through expenses. This certainly favors a dainya or “unfortunate” interpretation of the likelihood of loosing treasures – but one has to see the quality of the planets involved and their relationship. If they are strong and blessed one could actually turn losses into treasures. But if the exchange occurs under bad influences the flow would be more one of treasures being lost. In the illustration we are working with in the example, Jupiter influences both the planets involved in the exchange at that is a good sign that as a result of philosophy, religion, and morality (Jupiter traits) the native was able to overcome the loss of treasures and emotional peace she first endured, and turn the situation around turning her losses into gains in a foreign country.

More Help

For more help figuring out the nature of an individual’s mutual exchange you can also examine which houses are affected by the exchange from the point of view not of the ascendant but of the Moon and Sun. In the example we are using, the Moon is in the 1^st House, so the exchange also affects the 4^th and 12^th houses from the Moon. But the Sun is in the 10^th House, Scorpio – and therefore the exchange effects the 3^rd and 7^th Houses, since Capricorn is 3 signs/houses from the Scorpio Sun, and Taurus is 7 houses/signs from it.

The native in fact overcame the initial losses indicated by the 4/12 Mutual Exchange as a result of internet communication (a modern connotation of the 3^rd House) which led her to a happy marriage (7^th House).

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

Identifying Your Strengths with Astrology

This is going to be a quick article about what to look for in your birth chart to be able to focus in on what your natural strengths are. You should have some understanding of Vedic astrological principles to get the most from this article, but even a new comer will come away with a lot of new understanding by reading what they can here.

1. Identify The Standout Planets

Look at the chart and identify the planets that stand out in a positive way. This is easy for very experienced astrologers, but for the novice or intermediate let me point out a few of the things which I have realized cause me to feel that a planet stands out positively in the chart:

• Exalted planets always catch my eye.
• Planets in their own signs also catch my eye if they are also in the kendras (the four cardinal directions – houses 1, 4, 7 or 10)
• Planet’s with a vimshopaka (“20 Point Rating”) score higher than 15 are standout positive planets
• Planets close to the ascendant’s degree in their sign will stand out, not always positively

A word or two on each of these.

Exaltation

When you see an exalted planet, do a “reality check” before you start considering it a standout positive planet. Your first stop for the reality check is the planet’s navamsha sign. If the planet is also in a good sign there, you got a true positive standout planet. If the planet is in a weak or debilitated sign in the navamsha look at it more like a “mixed blessing.”

The next stop on the reality check is the planet’s 20 Point Rating (vimshopaka). More on that later.

Own Signs

Planets in their own signs are pretty nice. But when they are in their own signs and in the central houses at the same time – they really stand out. You can’t really be sure if they will stand out positively or negatively until you reality check with the planet’s navamsha sign and vimshopaka score.

The male sign owned by the planet is a stronger place for the planet (except in the case of Mercury and, of course, the Moon).

Vimshopaka – 20 Point Rating

This is a basic technique of Vedic Astrology which assigns a “positivity” score to each planet based on it’s condition in all of the divisional charts, not just the navamsha (or in large groups of the charts, technically). Any descent Vedic astrology software should tell you the vimshopaka of each planet in your chart. 10 is an average score. Below 10 the planet starts to stand out as being negative, and visa verse. Planets with greater than, say, 15 are real stand out strong points for you.

Ascendant Degree

Any planet that is within about 4-7 degrees of the degree of the ascendant will stand out and be influential in your chart. For example, if your Ascendant is 1º40′ Capricorn and you have Mercury at 1º27″ of Leo, that means Mercury is only 13′ (very close, less that one degree) away from the degree of your ascendant. So Mercury will stand out very strongly. Or, with the same ascendant, if you have Jupiter at 4º20′ of Libra, Jupiter is only 2º40′ from the Ascendant degree and will therefore stand out.

Some astrologers seem to say that if the Ascendant is at 1º, for example, and a planet is a 27º there is very little influence. I tend to differ. Since 30º is actually only 1º away from 1º, a planet with a very high degree is actually close to another planet with a very low degree. It is better, mathematically, to take an absolute value, in my opinion. So in this case we have the Ascendant at 1º of Capricorn, and a planet, say Saturn, at 28º. They are actually 3º apart and thus saturn is quite influential. This is a bit tricky and will take just a little getting used to.

Closeness to the Ascendant Degree actually does not tell you how positive the stand out planet is – it just tells you that the planet stands out. Check the vimshopaka for an evaluation of the sign dignities through the varga divisions – and then you will know if this stand out is a source of happiness or grief for you.

2. Identify Standout Yogas

Of course, to do this, you need to know what the yogas (planetary combinations are). Basically you should look for

• Raja-Yogas
• Other strong yogas like parvata, camara, amala, mahabhagya, etc.

Raja Yogas are really key. You can do a good quick evaluation just contemplating these alone. These are the two types of Raja Yogas which are easiest to identify and thus most useful to look for.

• Combinations between planets who rule kendras (1,4,7, & 10th houses) with planets who rule the konas (1, 5, and 9th houses)
• Combination of Rahu or Ketu with either of the above

To explain with an example. Say Capricorn rises. Saturn, Mars, Moon and Venus can potentially form raja yogas because they own the four signs which create the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses from Capricorn. They will form these yogas only if they combine with Saturn, Venus or Mercury – because these are the planets who own the signs which create the 1st, 5th, and 9th houses from Capricorn.

So if you have Venus and Mercury together in the same sign, or exchanging houses (or mutually aspecting one another, which in this case is impossible) you have a raja yoga, and you should look at the conditions of that yoga to see where your great power lies.

An example for the second type of Raja Yoga: If Ketu or Rahu is in a kendra or a kona, they could potentially form a raja yoga. Anywhere else, it is impossible. If Rahu or Ketu is in a kendra with a planet who owns a kona, or visa versa – in a kona with a planet who owns a kendra – raja-yoga forms and this is a standout indication of great power.

So, say Capricorn rises. If Ketu is in Virgo, it is possible for it to form a raja yoga if Saturn, Mars, Moon, or Venus is with it in Virgo too.

Evaluating the Positivity of a Yoga

You have to evaluate a yoga to see how effective it is for the individual. First of all look to see when the dasha-cycles of the planets involved take place. Will you even likely be alive for these cycles? If not, obviously you have not found a “stand out” factor in your chart. Next, check the shad-bala (Six Strengths Score). If the planets are strong you are heading in the right direction. Finally, check the vimshopaka and look for higher scores to show more positivity and a greater standout.

3. Identify The Planets Aspecting the Ascendant.

So far I have given you in pretty good order starting from the strongest first, what I feel are real standouts. You could say that a very positive and strong raja yoga is more of a standout than the individual planets standing out – even though I did identify those first. But the reason I give more precedence to the individual planets is that it is really quite rare to get yogas that actually stand out strongly. So it is better initially consider them slightly less important that the first set of considerations – at least this is my opinion right now.

If you are still feeling the need to go more you can check to see what planets aspect your ascendant. These planets will play important roles in your life.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

How the Stars Create Great People

There are five special alignments in astrology which will produce five varieties of outstanding people. Basically, the alignment occurs when the right planet is in the right sign, while also being in the right house. Planet, sign, and house align correctly and enable that planet to create a truly outstanding individual – a “Maha-Purusha.”

The Right Planets

Let’s define some of that more exactly, starting with “the right planet.” The only planets which can produce this alignment are the five real astrological planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The other astrological bodies do not participate in this alignment, in fact they actually will detract from it, but more on that later on.

The Right Signs

Now: “The right planet in the right sign.” Planets travel through the zodiac constellations like you or I traveling though different neighborhoods of our city. We experience a different reception in each neighborhood, based largely on how well the locals like us and also on how well we can make use of the resources that exist in that part of town. A planet is in “the right neighborhood” or “the right sign” for this special alignment when it is in either a sign that it owns, or in the sign in which it is exalted.

So, these are the “right signs” for each of the “right planets” in respect to this particular alignment -

• Mars at home in Aries or Scorpio, or exalted in Capricorn
• Mercury at home in Gemini or exalted in Virgo
• Jupiter at home in Sagittarius or Pisces, or exalted in Cancer
• Venus at home in Libra or Taurus, or exalted in Pisces
• Saturn at home in Capricorn or Aquarius, or exalted in Libra

The Right Houses

We said that great people are born when the right planet is in the right sign and the right house. The right houses for this alignment are the cardinal directions of the sky, the four quadrants – houses 1, 4, 7 or 10.

How to Calculate It

This is alignment is recorded from rather ancient Sanskrit sources. You should therefore only look for it using the same style of astrological calculation which those ancient authors used: a sidereal zodiac (not a tropical one) with a “whole sign” house system (not a placidus or any other type of calculated house system).

Specific Results of these Alignments

When this alignment occurs, a child is born who will stand out from his or her peers. The specific planet causing the alignment will bestow from it’s own nature the specific qualities which will cause that child to excel.

Mars’ Greatness When Mars is the planet creating the alignment the child grows up to be an extremely charismatic “lovable rouge” type. He or she will become outstanding due to excellent ambition, strength, bravery, physical power and fearlessness.

Mercury’s Greatness When Mercury creates this alignment, the child becomes a sort of “handsome professor.” He or she excels as a result of outstanding intellect, beauty, fairness, and education.

Jupiter’s Greateness When the alignment results from Jupiter, the child becomes an “eloquent noble.” His  fair and sonorous speech is a very prominent factor making him stand out from his peers and bringing him extra wealth and ability to lead a happy life of noble enjoyments and sexual pleasure.

Venus’ Greatness If Venus is the planet causing this alignment, a child is born who becomes a sort of “learned romantic.” She stands out from her peers because she is extremely learned, especially in the arts, is noticeably beautiful. These qualities bring her a wealth of sexual enjoyments and money.

Saturn’s Greatness When Saturn causes the alignment, the child becomes the “leader of the pack,” the “voice of the voiceless.” He excels others due to his determination, patience, strength and – most of all – mass public appeal. He will also have powers with scientific arts.

What Elevates & Cancels Out the Alignment

Some people born with these alignments will simply stand out among their classmates, while others will stand out amidst their entire school, and still others will go on to stand out amid the entire nation, or even the entire world. Why the difference?

Because other factors besides the right planet, right sign, right house can act upon the alignment and either amplify or mute it.

Detracting Factors

If the Sun or Moon conjoin the planet causing the alignment, it becomes severely muted, even “cancelled.” This is especially true with conjunctions from the Sun, and even more so if that conjunction is within 8º or so, and thus causes the alignment planet to be consumed entirely by the Sun’s brilliance.

That gives you a good hint at the reason why this cancellation occurs. The Sun and Moon are the natural outstanding personalities in the heavens. The other five planets cannot express their greatness fully when they are in the presence of the true king and queen, the Sun & Moon.

To a lesser extent, an aspect from the Sun or Moon to the alignment planet may reduce the greatness of the alignment.

Another detracting factor is a conjunction or, to a lesser extent, aspect from a malefic planet – especially if that malefic is one of the lunar nodes: Rahu or Ketu. You should also check the sub-charts, especially the navamsha, for detracting conjunctions and perhaps also aspects.

If the aligning planet is the owner of difficult houses in the chart, the potency of the alignment can be dampened.

Finally, if the planet is “weak” despite being in a good sign, the alignment will lose power. Vedic astrology has an excellent system for mathematically describing the strength of a planet, called the Sixfold Strength System (shad-bala), if you know this system or have access to Vedic astrology software you should always consult the shad-bala score to get the strength of the aligning planet and use it to judge to potential strength or weakness of the alignment itself.

If you don’t know how to calculate shad-bala or don’t have the software to do it for you – it’s something very important to learn about, but is unfortunately way outside the scope of this article.

Enhancing Factors

Having described what makes the normal alignment become less powerful, now I will tell you what makes it become more powerful.

First of all, there may be a bit of a gradation inherent in the alignment itself. If the alignment occurs from a planet in exaltation you can expect it to have a bit more inherent strength than the same alignment occurring from a planet in it’s own sign. You can subdivide the own signs further if you know what a “moolontrikona” sign is (except for Mercury it is always the masculine one of the two signs owned by a planet). That sign will generate a little bit more inherent strength.

If the Planet causing the alignment also owns important and benefic houses in the chart, the alignment’s strength amplifies.

A factor which will dramatically multiply the strength of a Greatness Alignment is if that alignment occurs not only in the correct houses counted normally from the ascendant, but also in the correct houses counted starting from the house of the Moon and, secondarily, the Sun. It will be easier to spot this than it seems. You can spot it like this: if the Sun and/or Moon is also in a cardinal direction / angular house (house 1, 4, 7, or 10) – as long as they are not in the same house as the alignment planet, of course - this amplifying condition will occur and the strength of the alignments greatness with dramatically enhance.

Also, if the alignment repeats itself in the navamsha sub-chart it will be significantly enhanced. In fact as long as the alignment planet is just in a good sign and not conjunct malefic planets in the navamsha the alignment gets proportionately enhanced.

Multiple Alignments

In some charts there will be more than one such alignment. For example, Mars may be exalted in the 1st house while Saturn is also exalted in the 10th and Jupiter in the 7th. Clearly the more alignments, the more outstanding the individual. To predict the specific nature of the results you will need to do a bit of “cooking” to correctly ascertain how the qualities of each alignment will mix and blend.

I will say though, that a single greatness alignment which is spotless and enhanced will create far more outstanding individuals that would a triplicate of alignments which are dampened.

Timing the Fruition of the Alignment

These Greatness Alignments are very special in that they are among the few alignments in astrology which don’t need to wait for an appropriate time in the chronological dasha cycles before they can manifest. They will have a general overall effect on the person throughout their entire life. Of course, during the dasha cycle of the alignment causing planet there will be even greater benefit.

Impossible Alignments

It is interesting to note that a person born under a rising sign which belongs to Jupiter or Mercury will never be able to have a Mars-type greatness personality (because the right signs will never be in the right houses at the same time). Mars is too single-minded and headstrong to become exceedingly positive in the personality of those born to the fair-minded and equanimical signs of Mercury and Jupiter.

Conversely it is impossible to have a Mercurial Greatness unless ones rising sign belongs to either Jupiter or Mercury. Intellect rarely produces great leaders, who are more often brutish and opportunistic. Therefore the possibilities for Mercury’s intelligence to create truly excelling people only arises when either Mercury (the archetypical student) or Jupiter (the archetypical teacher) owns the rising sign.

Similarly, if one is born under a fixed rising sign (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius) Jupiter cannot form his greatness alignment.  Jupiter’s greatness manifests in the ability to grow, procreate, and expand generously. The influence of a fixed rising sign limits this too much.

Saturn’s greatness can not manifest to those whose rising signs belong to the impartial and fair Jupiter and Mercury. Saturn’s strength, power and fixed tenacity requires the rising sign to be either ambitious (a cardinal sign) or strong (a fixed sign).

Venus, whose motto is to love all and create harmony and peace in this world, is the only planet whose greatness can manifest for all rising signs.

Thoughts on Debilitation

If this great alignment is produced when the right planet is in a good sign and a strong house – what can be said if the right planet is in a debilitating sign in an important house? Take Saturn, for example. If Saturn is exalted in Libra, which is the 10th house, a potentially fantastic “Saturn’s Greatness” alignment occurs. But what if Saturn is instead debilitated in Aries, in the 4th House? Does the opposite effect occur? Does the person become obscure, menial, and neglected?

I can only tell you what I personally think, because I have not yet seen this question addressed in any of the ancient classics. But I think the answer is a conditional “no.” There is no special Anti-Greatness Alignment described for this combination of conditions. Furthermore I would add that debilitation is as extreme a condition for a planet as exaltation. Therefore, if anything, the debilitated variety of this alignment would still create an outstanding individual, potentially, who stands above his or her peers as a result of their ability to learn the important lessons taught to them by that debilitated planet.

This is only my speculation at this point. I have not researched it.

But I do have something further to say, on which I have been able to observe a bit in practical experience. One most consider the phenomenon of neech-bhanga. That is, one must consider the effect of a debilitated planet who has the debilitation rectified as a result of a specific set of conditions (outside the scope of this article to describe). Since the ancient astrological authorities have many times and in many places described these “cancelled debilitations” as being equivalent in many ways to exaltation, one can reasonably posit that an alignment causing planet who is debilitated in a quadrant house will cause the Greatness Alignment to manifest if that planet receives cancellation of debilitation. In such cases the rest of the normal modifying rules for the strength of the alignment would also apply.

I will offer my own chart as an example of this principle. I have two debilitated planets in angles. Saturn in Aries in my 4th house and Mars in Cancer in my 7th house. Yet both of those debilitations meet the criteria of neech-bhanga and are thus rectified, mitigated, or “cancelled.” Therefore one can speculate on the basis of the logic I just mentioned, that I should potentially enjoy the effects of two Greatness Alignments, one from Saturn being equivalent to exalted in my 4th house, and another from Mars being equivalent to exalted in my 7th house.

However, one should the proceed to apply the normal rules. We find Mars conjunct the sun within just a few degrees and therefore combust. Thus we don’t expect to find any effect from a Mars’ Greatness Alignment. In Saturn’s case, however, we find that his alignment recurs from the Sun as well as the Ascendant, and that it is assisted by an aspect from a benefic planet, Jupiter. Therefore we expect to find fairly significant effect from a Saturn’s Greatness Alignment in my horoscope.

This assessment does accurately match the nature of my experience and my life.

Technical Names

For those from India or more familiar with Vedic Astrology I will note the technical names of these alignments (“yogas”) here. If that’s not you, this section is ignorable.

The entire class of alignment is known as the pancha-mahapurusha yoga. When Mars creates the yoga the subclass is ruchaka yoga. When Mercury creates it, bhadra yoga. Jupiter creates the subclass called hamsa yoga. Venus creates malavya yoga. Saturn creates sashi yoga.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

Holistic Astrology Techniques

How in God’s name do you make sense out the cryptic symbols of an astrological chart?

First of all you have to learn what each individual planet, house and sign represents. You can’t skip that.

So let’s say you learned that and are pretty comfortable with your understanding of it. You still look at a birth chart and get cross-eyed with confusion. You start chasing fading footprints of what this planet in that sign means, or what might happen when that planet is in this house; when planet a aspects planet b, etc., etc., etc. An avalanche of facts comes crashing down around you, and you try to dig your way out and somehow turn all that rubble of raw information into some sort of coherent and accurate unified interpretation…. but (except for a few essentially lucky guesses) you pull your hair out and resort to crying.

This is, clearly, not the right way to go about interpreting a chart. The biggest problem that we face when we look at a horoscopic chart is the question of where to start. If you start in the right place you will get an accurate reading. It’s like building a home. You can’t start by painting a wall. You have to start by preparing the lot, then laying the foundation, etc. Even though these initial steps will be forgotten more or less by the time someone moves in, if you don’t get them right you wont be able to even make a house that can stand through a rain and breeze.

Before you start picking out the individual pieces of the horoscope, you first need to prepare the lot and lay the foundation: which means you must first asses the entire chart as a whole.

To do so, you have to employ pattern recognition.

Pattern Recognition - Nabhasa Yogas

Look at the chart with a “soft focus” – from “far away” – just recognize the general patterns and shapes in the chart as a whole. This will not help you make any specific conclusions or predictions in and of itself, but it will allow the things you do later on in your interpretation of the horoscope to be accurate and real.

In Vedic Astrology there is a collection of about 1,000 patterns you should try to recognize, called the Nabhasa Yogas. If you are unlucky you will have someone tell you to memorize them all. Consider yourself lucky because I would never do that to poor old you!

Four Pattern Types

All of the myriad patterns of nabhasa yogas fit into 4 simple categories

1. “Refuge” Patterns
2. “Camp” Patterns
3. “Visibility” Patterns
4. “Numeric” Patterns

Refuge Patterns – “Ashraya Nabhasa Yogas”

Refuge patterns classically involve recognizing which modalities are predominant in the chart as a whole (fixed, moving, or dual), by evaluating which signs the planets and ascendant occupy, or “have taken refuge in”. I also like to extend this to recognize the elemental character the chart (earth, water, fire, air).

Camp Patterns – “Dala Nabhasa Yogas”

Camp patterns classically involve recognizing the predominance of either benefics or malefics in the chart as a whole. I also extend this to recognize the rebellious vs. authority camps of planets.

Visibility Patterns - “Akriti Nabhasa Yogas”

Visibility patterns have some important subgroups…

1. Long Arcs
2. Short Arcs
3. Angles
4. Checkers

Long Arcs cover the hemispheres of the sky / chart. There are four hemispheres – above, below, east and west. If you are looking at a chart were most or all of the planets are in a specific hemisphere, then the nature of that hemisphere must become an important foundation for how you interpret the rest of the chart.

The pattern is strongest when the planets form a continuous chain in a single hemisphere. Technically there is a 5th pattern which forms if you get a string of planets covering 7 houses, but not falling entirely into one of the four hemispheres.

Short Arcs cover the four quadrants of the sky: Houses starting from the East, West, Above and Below. Take a step back from the chart and see if most of the planets clump up or string together in one of these quadrants. If so, it will define a strong underlying theme which will help you make decisions about how to interpret the rest of the chart.

Angles involve prominent patterns occurring in the angular houses of the chart. There are two groups of angles – the quadrants (kendra) which are houses 1, 4, 7, and 10, and the triangles (kona) which are houses 5 and 9 (and 1, technically house 1 is both a quadrant and a triangle).

Checker patterns form when all the planets are in odd houses (or conversely if they are all in even houses).

Numeric Patterns - Sankhya Nabhasa Yogas

These patterns involve simply counting the total number of houses that the planets occupy.

Effects of these Patterns

I am going to reiterate here that these patterns do not create definite effects in and of themselves, anymore or any less than a plot of land and a foundation define the appearance and utility of the house built upon them. The effects of these patterns is where you go first when starting to interpret the horoscope – to get the general color and context upon which you can build the rest of your more specific interpretations most accurately.

Here’s the next important thing to say to you: you have to ignore rahu and ketu (the lunar nodes) as well as any sub-planets or modern planets when trying to recognize any and all of these patterns. These patterns only involve the placement of the 5 real planets and the 2 luminaries, the Sun and Moon.

The next thing I need you to understand is that I am going to describe the most extreme case of each pattern. If you get close to the pattern it will start to become recognizable. It doesn’t have to be an exact match to my description, though the more exactly the pattern in the chart matches the classical pattern I describe here, the more throughly it will color and set the tone for the rest of the chart.

For example, an Opposite Quadrant 1&7 pattern forms if all the 7 planets are in houses 1 and 7. So lets say you are looking at a horoscopic chart with 6 planets in houses 1 and 7, and just one somewhere else. Don’t be silly and think that you are not going to get quite an effect from this pattern anyway. The strongest effect would be if literally every planet were in houses 1 and 7, but if one or even two or three planets stray from this axis, you will still get the patterns effect, although it will not be as intense.

Refuge Pattern Effects

Modalities

If you have a chart with a predominance of planets in signs of a single modality that will significantly influence the overall nature of everything else in the chart. Here are the modalities and their characteristics.

	Cardinal	Fixed	Dual
Home	Likes to move & travel	Stays in one place	(un)Comfortable anywhere
Preference	To achieve goals	To strengthen foundations	To understand
Desires	Speed	Durability	Options
Decisions	Makes them quickly	Minimizes need for	Decides not to choose
Mentality	Seeks new ideas	Cherishes old ideas	Sees multiple points of view
Best Trait	Ambition	Determination	Flexibility

The more you see a buildup (or lack) in specific modalities, the more the nature of those modalities will set the tone for everything else in the chart.

I will also note that if you find charts with evenly distributed modalities, that is arguably another pattern in and of itself.

In this example chart, 5 planets (include the ascendant, heavily in fact) are in cardinal signs. 3 are in fixed signs. None are in dual signs. You immediately get the feeling that the rest of the interpretations you make will favor a lot of rapidity, movement, and questing. And things which require flexibility, neutrality and dispassion will not be favored elsewhere in anything you interpret (due to the lack of dual signs). The native’s stability will pertain to his emotional and intellectual experiences because of the planets in fixed signs, the Moon is one and is exalted in a prominent house. The native’s instabilities will pertain to physical and material things because this is the primary mode in the chart, and because the ascendant is in this mode.

You can and in my opinion should do this same sort of assessment for the elements predominant in the chart. I also suggest that this evaluation can be extended through the 6 important varga sub-charts – particularly when evaluating the Moon and Ascendant.

Camp Pattern Effects

If there is a predominance of malefic planets in the kendras you will be able to favor interpretations of the rest of the chart which involve the use of strength, ambition, competition, distress, strife and challenge. If there is a predominance of benefics on the other hand, color your interpretations to highlight the role of grace, morality, harmony, and blessings.

In the example chart above the kendras (angles) hold 4 planets: 3 malefics (Saturn, Sun and Mars) and 1 benefic. It appears that the malefic camp is somewhat more prominent in this chart. In fact, the native does experience life mainly in terms of challenges, struggles, and ambition to become strong and overcome distress. Malefics work more in one’s favor when the rising sign belongs to a malefic, as is the case here, with Saturn’s Capricorn rising and under the aspect of Benefic Jupiter. It is impossible to tell from the illustration here, but Jupiter sits more or less exactly at the heart of this 10th house quadrant and therefore get’s his “weight” amplified in this pattern assessment.

Visibility Pattern Effects

Long Arcs

1. All planets under ground: Color the rest of your interpretation to favor themes of privacy and accumulation of goods and wealth.
2. All planets above ground in the sky: favor themes of visibility, extroversion and lack of secrets.
3. All planets to the East: There is a theme that the native will want to take foreign or external things and internalize them. Color your interpretations accordingly.
4. All planets to the West: The theme is the use of inner powers and secrets to obtain external results.

In this chart all the pattern forming planets fall between house 4 and 10. Therefore they are all in the Western hemisphere. The theme of the chart therefore should be using inner powers and secrets to obtain external results.

The native spent significant time and effort as a leading member of a movement for social change based on  spiritual and internal secrets and principles. Most everything in the native’s life is colored by this theme of connecting the inner self to the outer world.

Short Arcs

1. Planets start in the East: Planets all fall in houses 1, 2, 3, or 4 – everything in the chart is far more likely to take place within a domestic, hometown scope.
2. Planets start at the Nadir: Planets all fall in houses 4, 5, 6, or 7 – the rest of the chart is colored by the motivation to use the emotions and intellect to fulfill material desires.
3. Planets start in the West: Planets all fall in houses 7, 8, 9, or 10 – Interpret the rest of the chart understanding that the native is a fighter who can survive difficulties and be fierce.
4. Planets start at the Zenith: Planets all fall in houses 10, 11, 12, or 1 - Give preference to other interpretations which favor a spirit which wanders to distant places, cultures and ideas.

This example chart does not have a strong short arc pattern. But if pressed you can recognize that 5 of the 7 pattern forming planets are in houses 7, 8, 9 or 10. Therefore there is some extent of the West Short Arc pattern (called Shakti Nabhasa Yoga in Sanskrit).

In fact the native has travelled all over the globe multiple times, has adopted a foreign culture and has a wandering spirit. This pattern colored the chart such that other more specific placements to this affect could easily make their effect known (for example, Rahu in the 2nd house and the 12th Lord in the 10th house).

Angle Pattern effects

1. Two consecutive quadrants. This pattern forms when all / most of the applicable planets are in just two quadrants, and those quadrants are “square” to one another, not opposite. The effect colors the chart to favor things which promote a person who has strong desires and greeds, as well as the power to conquer and fulfill those desires.
2. Opposite quadrants, 1 & 7. This pattern forms when all / most planets are in houses 1 and 7. The effect is challenging and brings to the fore themes of life vs. death and self vs. others.
3. Opposite quadrants 4 & 10. Formed when all / most planets are in houses 4 and 10. Makes the chart more prone to facilitate challenges involving public vs. private and home vs. office.
4. A spread of malefics in 4 & 10 while benefics are in 1 & 7. The effect makes the chart more supportive of placements causing the native to be likable and attractive while still being ambitious and brave. The public persona is strong, but he is clearly a good person.
5. A spread of benefics in 4 & 10 while malefics are in 1 & 7. Makes the chart more supportive placements making the native philanthropic and self-controlled. The public persona is benefic and he is strict towards himself.
6. All planets occupying the quadrants. This is an extremely powerful pattern. The more planets you have in quadrants the more the person becomes famous, appreciated, beautiful and powerful
7. No planets occupying the quadrants. This is not as powerful as the previous but still very effective as a pattern. It promotes humility and similar good qualities.
8. Triangles. If all/ most of the planets are trine to one another, you should recognize one of four variations on this pattern – which is very strong and indicates a person of great power in a particular area.
   1. All planets in the fire triangle (1, 5, 9) – Promotes dharma power. The chart becomes more supportive of socially active persons.
   2. All planets in the earth triangle (2, 6, 10) – Promotes artha power. The chart becomes more supportive of financial accumulation.
   3. All planets in the air triangle (3, 7, 11) – Promotes kama power. The chart becomes more supportive of enjoyment and perceptivity.
   4. All planets in the water triangle (4, 8, 12) - Promotes moksha power. The chart becomes more supportive of a need for self-understanding and realization.

The example chart does not show any strong patterns from the above, but one can note a mild accumulation of 4 out of 7 planets in the quadrants, causing the 6th pattern above to start being felt. This pattern somewhat helps the chart take advantage of opportunities for fame, power and good looks.

In evaluating the triangles, one finds 1 planet in the fire triangle, 1 in the earth triangle, 2 in the air triangle, and 3 in the water triangle. Therefore the chart is most fertile towards anything which indicates a drive towards self-understanding and self-realization.

Checker Pattern Effects

If you have a chart where all / most of the planets are in odd houses, or all/most are in even houses, you have a chart with a very strong foundation that can support any other indications for fame, power, rank and blessing. This pattern creates a wheel of sextile aspects and is therefore known in Sanskrit as the chakra. Technically, chakra (meaning “wheel”) is the name for the checkerboard pattern occurring in odd numbered houses, while the name for the same pattern occurring in even houses is samudra (indicating the waves of an ocean).

Numeric Pattern Effects

These patterns are subordinate to the others mentioned already. Let’s say for example that you have a chart where all the planets are in two houses / signs. That forms a numeric pattern: the two sign pattern. But it also might form an angular pattern from the Visibility group described above. If that were the case you should ignore the numeric pattern because the visibility pattern will be more dominant in it’s effect.

For example if Capricorn rises when all the planets are in Capricorn and Cancer you will have a numeric pattern – all the planets are constricted to two houses. But you will also have an angular pattern – Opposite Quadrants 1 & 7. The Opposite Quadrants pattern should be the one you primarily focus your attention on.

Here are the numeric patterns -

1. All planets in ONE house: This is very rare and promotes extreme imbalance. It is one of the most difficult patterns possible.
2. All in TWO houses: Still very difficult, making the chart very vulnerable to any interpretation involving problems with wealth and parents.
3. All in THREE houses: Difficult, but at this point the native can more easily fight against the difficulties and turn the challenges into opportunities. This pattern therefore promotes other chart indications that paint a picture of a person who fights against others, is commanding, even dictatorial, and who protects and defends herself.
4. All in FOUR houses: Balance. This pattern promotes the ability to benefit by living life in a balanced way.
5. All in FIVE: Passion. This pattern makes the chart more fertile for indications of material desires and accomplishments.
6. SIX houses : Honest worker.
7. SEVEN: If each one of the 7 pattern-forming planets it is a separate house in the chart, the pattern promotes anything else in the chart indicating that the native would be able to become learned, skilled, well rounded and helpful towards others.

The example chart here shows a pattern of the 7 planets occupying 5 houses. Therefore the exalted Moon in the 5th house should be colored with an interpretation that is more consonant to the procreative and fertile nature of that house. The same of the planets in the 8th and 7th house. In fact from nearly all angles this chart appears to belong to a person the late great sexologist Dr. Kinsey would have really gotten a lot of good material from.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com